Blue-chip recruit Rush visits Indiana

[whitesoxfan99]

Per Kansas Radio, Rush to KU.

 

They weren't actually confirming anything and both the Kansas boards put little stock in what that station was reporting. Rush's mom recently said she did not know what he was doing and a Kansas source who actually is very well connected to the Rush family has said no commitment has been made by Rush yet and Rush intends to talk the situation over with his family tonight.

[Buehrle>Wood]

They weren't actually confirming anything and both the Kansas boards put little stock in what that station was reporting.  Rush's mom recently said she did not know what he was doing and a Kansas source who actually is very well connected to the Rush family has said no commitment has been made by Rush yet and Rush intends to talk the situation over with his family tonight.

Aight. I shouldn't take my news from the idiots of at Illiniboard.net. I could go to Phog, but they banned me.(Apparantly, a Bucknell-KU game analysis is trolling).

 

I still think he will end up at KU though. Most of the signs are pointing that way.

[whitesoxfan99]

Aight. I shouldn't take my news from the idiots of at Illiniboard.net. I could go to Phog, but they banned me.(Apparantly, a Bucknell-KU game analysis is trolling).

 

I still think he will end up at KU though. Most of the signs are pointing that way.

 

I wouldn't be surprised one bit if he ended up at KU but not to long ago most of the signs were pointing to Illinois. The Rush recruitment has been a circus from the get go and is getting more crazy as the decision draws near. Classes at Kansas start Thursday so a decision has to be coming soon.

[ZoomSlowik]

I don't see either the Illini or Indiana making serious noise this year (by that I mean Elite 8 or better). Both teams have some solid options, but both have holes also. Indiana's front line is solid with White/Killingsworth/Vaden, but the guards are less than stellar. Strickland is only alright. I see them middle of the pack, possibly moving to the top couple teams or making the Sweet 16 if their guards step up. I've got some more faith in the Illini and also think they have a better shot at being good. Brown and Augustine are obviously solid, but I have some doubts about the rest of the team. To be good, they need two guys to step up. There are some possibilites with Randle, Carter, Arnold, Brock, and Pruitt, but I'm not exactly betting on them. If Illinois gets Rush and he plays, my forcast for their team improves considerably.

 

I just don't see Kansas doing much. They have too many young players to consistently succeed. He's probably got the best shot of playing immediately and making an impact at Kansas, but he has the best chance of being on a good team and possibly improving his stock in the tourney with Illinois.

[whitesoxfan99]

Sounds like Illinois got eliminated. Rush may be down to Indiana and Kansas.

[greasywheels121]

Sounds like Illinois got eliminated.  Rush may be down to Indiana and Kansas.

 

Where's that from?

[whitesoxfan99]

Where's that from?

 

http://www.kusports.com/news/mens_hoop_rec...ng/story/115006

[greasywheels121]

http://www.kusports.com/news/mens_hoop_rec...ng/story/115006

 

Interesting, thanks. I think Kansas is probably the favorite.

[SnB]

Why? They are easily one of the best 15 teams in the country. A National Title this year would certainly not be out of reach.

why would you say that?

they only return 2 starters from last year......

stop drinking the orange kool aid

[whitesoxfan99]

why would you say that?

they only return 2 starters from last year......

stop drinking the orange kool aid

 

All American PG, All Big 10 C and Brian Randle will be a stud. Illinois very well could be a top 15 team this year. There really are not a whole lot of teams that appear to be head and shoulders above the rest.

[Buehrle>Wood]

why would you say that?

they only return 2 starters from last year......

stop drinking the orange kool aid

Yeah, me and My Illinois degree, which I don't have, just scream Illini homer. :rolly

[He_Gawn]

Do the right thing Rush, pick IU.

[SnB]

All American PG, All Big 10 C and Brian Randle will be a stud.  Illinois very well could be a top 15 team this year.  There really are not a whole lot of teams that appear to be head and shoulders above the rest.

i guess i'm playing the "fathom" of illini fans here (joking)

but i just think the lack of experience on this team is going to hurt them this year. I think we'll hover around the 20s

[fathom]

i guess i'm playing the "fathom" of illini fans here (joking)

but i just think the lack of experience on this team is going to hurt them this year.  I think we'll hover around the 20s

 

Lucky for you, the one thing I know more than baseball is college basketball. Illinois will be good this year, but they're going to be a totally different team than they were last year. The main reason they were so great last year is that they were a phenomenal shooting team. You leave them open, and they'd drain it. There's a gigantic dropoff in the shooting ability from someone like Head to Randle. Michigan St. will be the class of the Big 10, but I fully expect Illinois to get around a 4 seed next year.

[SnB]

Lucky for you, the one thing I know more than baseball is college basketball.  Illinois will be good this year, but they're going to be a totally different team than they were last year.  The main reason they were so great last year is that they were a phenomenal shooting team.  You leave them open, and they'd drain it.  There's a gigantic dropoff in the shooting ability from someone like Head to Randle.  Michigan St. will be the class of the Big 10, but I fully expect Illinois to get around a 4 seed next year.

that's kind of how i'm feeling. This team lost 2 of it's "go to guys", it's going to take a bit of time for this lineup to mesh together.

[fathom]

that's kind of how i'm feeling.  This team lost 2 of it's "go to guys", it's going to take a bit of time for this lineup to mesh together.

 

Also, the expectations for Brock, Randle, and some of the true freshman are absolutely ridiculous. As much as I hate them, Duke has an amazing team this year. Shelden Williams is way too good of a defensive player for the college level, and Redick is just such a good scorer.

[whitesoxin']

I'm going to be following the class of 2007 very closely. My friend has offers from IU and Illinois, among many others, already and he is nowhere close to deciding where to go.

[ZoomSlowik]

Also, the expectations for Brock, Randle, and some of the true freshman are absolutely ridiculous.  As much as I hate them, Duke has an amazing team this year.  Shelden Williams is way too good of a defensive player for the college level, and Redick is just such a good scorer.

 

Duke's team isn't that "amazing." They're very similar to the Illini, although their pieces are stronger. Redick and Williams are studs, but the rest is somewhat iffy. Nelson has talent but doesn't shoot that well, Dockery is a basically a role player, and Melchionni is more one-dimensional than Redick. If Paulus or McRoberts pull a Shavlik Randolph and stink up the place, they'll probably struggle a bit. In my book the three strongest teams out there are UConn, Texas, and Villanova. UConn will have a loaded squad, although Williams has to play (his status is unknown with the laptop incident), otherwise they suffer a lot. If he's on the court, a lineup of Williams, Anderson, Gay, Boone, and Armstrong with Brown, Nelson, and Price/Kellog off the bench is pretty formidable. Texas will also be loaded if some issues get ironed out. Tucker needs to get eligible and Aldridge needs to get healthy. They'll still have Gibson and Buckman no matter what, and last I heard Miles was going to attend Texas unless he went in the first round. Villanova isn't as talented as those two, but they could be this year's Illini. Foye, Ray, and Sumpter are all solid shooters, and Nardi, Lowry, Sheridan, and Fraser give them some support (Fraser has always had a ton of potential but hasn't been healthy). Duke and Michigan State have enough talent to join this group if some things go well for them. I think there's a decent dropoff after those teams.

[thedoctor]

brandon rush and ken griffey jr. are really cutting down on my work productivity.

[Palehosefan]

Duke's team is actually ridiculously loaded this year. The scary thing is that Duke's best player could be freshmen Josh McRoberts.

 

He's basically a taller, better shooting David Lee. Sean Dockery will be solid at the piont and if he falters, freshmen Greg Paulus is waiting in the wings with an amazing passing ability, he can't defend worth a crap, but he can run and pass with the best of them.

 

As for UConn, they are having major, major PG problems, and I think that knocks them from the elite. I agree with Villanova and Texas being the other elite teams in basketball. One thing is for sure, the ACC is going to be majorly down this year outside of Duke. Miami could actually suprise people and get a top 3 finish in the ACC.

[Buehrle>Wood]

Illinois is still in the running, per AAU coach.

[thedoctor]

Illinois is still in the running, per AAU coach.

radio reports out of kc suggest rush will commit to kansas tomorrow.

[whitesoxfan99]

Illinois is still in the running, per AAU coach.

 

I'd put my money and lots of it on Kansas but this recruitment has had so many twists and turns nothing would surprise me. It's going to be funny if he doesn't get through the clearinghouse and is ineligible to play after all this.

[Rex Hudler]

Wow, hate Davis for his coaching abilities, but damn can he recruit.

 

I don't necessarily buy that. Think about how many players he has "just" missed out on. The Luol Deng's, the Charlie Villanueva's, the Kris Humphries', the Lawrence Roberts', not to mention the Indiana HS kids.

 

The kid from Utah is transferring because his former coach is an IU assistant. The kid from Dallas listed IU in his top six. Rush has us in his top 3.

 

DJ White was fairly easy because he had a long standing relationship with him (and hiring his HS coach didn't hurt). I think Kerry Rupp is pretty much responsible for bringing in Ben Allen, from what I have heard.

 

I try not to look at things as half-empty, but I just don't see all the successes. Players relate to him, no doubt. But something is scaring them off, whether it is how they will be used, how much they will play or not knowing whether or not he will be there. I'm not saying he is a bad recruiter, but I am not convinced he is as good as he is made out to be.

[Rex Hudler]

Every year Indiana is supposed to be good, and every year they underachieve, the reason, in my opinion is that Mike Davis can't get his players to play well together.  There was an article a few weeks ago in ESPN the Magazine about Deron Williams and Bracey Wright that mentioned that Davis told Bracey to shoot the ball at least 20 times a game.  What'd that do?  it hurt Bracey's draft stock because he took so many bad shots and it hurt Indiana's team because Bracey was forcing up crap.

 

At Indiana, Rush might get the spotlight, but they have a good amount of talent there already with White, Vaden, and Killingsworth.  They'll have a good team, should be somewhere in the upper middle of the big ten, but Mike Davis will keep them from doing too much.

 

 

1. IU wasn't "supposed" to be good the past two years. We hoped they would be, but expectations have been somewhat tempered since the debacle 3 years ago, especially last year.

2. I agree that Davis has not done a good job of getting his players to play together, however I saw some big time improvement last year after Bracey learned to play within a team concept much of the time.

3. Davis may have told Bracey he needed to be more aggressive offensively, he may have even told him that he should be able to get 20 shots a game, but I GUARANTEE you he did not tell him to toss up the s***ty shots Bracey took the past two years and to ignore open teammates to get those 20 shots.

4. I know Rush talks like he is a one and done player, and he may just be, but I have my doubts. Not every great HS player is good enough their freshman year to make the jump. I think you will find a lot of guys you think will be one and done's stay because they need to improve their game.